January 2002

Pre-Research!

The decision to conduct research can be boiled down to urgency of objectives and available funding. Consider these steps and thoughts regarding planning…

Study Objectives

Whether supporting advertising sales or quantifying the strength of your brand, research goals should be clearly defined.

• Avoid “It would be interesting to know…” questions and focus on critical measures with specific uses.
• How will the results be used? If change is impossible, then omit the question and substitute one to provide actionable information.
• Mine existing research for answers! Check syndicated sources, NAA studies and even your previous proprietary work.
• Use national study questions, if appropriate, to be able to compare results to put yours in context.
• Try not to have preconceived notions or expectations!

With solid information, you are in a stronger position to make decisions while developing a marketing campaign or evaluating a content change or to build a sales presentation that will keep or convert advertising dollars.

The Survey Area

Keep it simple and focused. For most studies, your primary area of circulation is all you need. Newspapers usually use MSA, NDM, RTZ, Home County. High population and low circulation in an area will water-down the newspaper's readership. At the same time, you cannot cherry-pick the geography to boost readership. The survey area should be geographically contiguous. For advertising sales studies, be sure the area will be meaningful to advertisers.

If trending is important, be sure to maintain geography from previous research.

Sample Size

The size of the sample is determined by how you plan to use the results and available budget. It is a popular misconception the larger the population, the larger the sample. To look at counties or circulation zones separately, you need to have enough interviews in each area. We recommend a minimum of 100 interviews for separate analysis and 200 if the budget permits. Think ahead - is the sample size likely to yield sufficient interviews with shoppers at stores for which you plan to develop a targeted presentation?

The newspaper industry standard is a minimum sample of 500, but you may need more for certain objectives. If you are conducting a study with a telephone interview combined with a mail booklet, a minimum sample of 1,000 is required because the return rate is typically 50 percent.

Proportionate vs. Disproportionate Sampling

Most studies use a proportionate sample in which the number of interviews in a Zip code or county is in proportion to the population. This means that if a county has 25 percent of the population, it will get about 25 percent of the interviews.

With disproportionate sampling you decide how many interviews you need in an area to look at separately and complete more interviews in the area than its population would otherwise suggest. The proper balance between the over-sampled area and the rest of the market is restored during the weighting or sample-balancing step.

The Questionnaire

Study objectives provide the question framework. Examples from previous or other newspaper questions will expedite the process. What has worked well before, regardless of objective, can work again. Questionnaire design is one of Belden’s strengths.

With objectives outlined, list all of the topics and subjects. Brainstorm as you develop this list – include everything useful you can think of. Allow several weeks for this process. Some of your best ideas may come while driving home or during a meeting or talking to an advertiser. Notice that we say list "topics" and "subjects." Don't spend your time writing questions; that’s our job. At the same time, be sure you communicate nuances or special situations to your research partner.

Review the list. All objectives covered? Are there unnecessary items? If you've done a good job of planning, you should have twice as much as the questionnaire will allow! Now, prioritize…which topics are a "must," which would be "useful," and which would be "nice, but"?

We hope these rules of thumb will help. Belden always offers guidance and assistance throughout each step of the planning process. We also cover these topics in depth during our client workshops.